Parker Waichman LLP recently filed a lawsuit against Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals alleging that the Mirena® intrauterine device (IUD) perforated the uterus of an Arizona woman and surgery was required to retrieve the device.

The lawsuit, filed on January 2, 2013 in the Superior Court of New Jersey Law Division, Morris County (Civil Action No. MRSL-40-13), alleges that Bayer failed to warn the plaintiff about the risks of the device and holds the defendants responsible for the woman’s injuries.

The Mirena® IUD was implanted in February 2008 and the plaintiff seemed to tolerate the device well, but a subsequent pelvic ultrasound showed that the device was no longer inside the uterus. In 2011, the woman had to undergo laparoscopic surgery to remove the Mirena® IUD. The lawsuit alleges that the device caused the plaintiff severe and permanent physical injuries and pain and that she suffered economic losses in the form of medical expenses.

The lawsuit alleges that Bayer is responsible for the woman’s injuries, not only through the defective and harmful nature of the Mirena® device, but also through the defendant’s negligence in not warning about the risk of spontaneous migration of the device. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a number of serious side effects are associated with the use of the Mirena®; in addition to perforation of the uterine wall, these include ectopic pregnancy, intrauterine pregnancy (possibly with the device still present), streptococcal sepsis, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), and embedment of the device in the uterine wall.

A petition has recently been filed to consolidate Mirena® lawsuits into a multidistrict litigation (In Re: Mirena IUD Product Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:12-CV-2780). This would centralize a number of cases in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, before the Honorable Patricia A. Gaughan.